


Sunset

by DelWrites



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Gen, angst shit, big yeet, sad shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 00:07:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17436101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelWrites/pseuds/DelWrites
Summary: The sun sets regretfully on a loyal friendship- such is the cost of Independence.





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m not giving you the Platinum Chip, House. This place deserves independence. You don’t care about ANYONE but yourself!”

“…I see. Well, it was a noble effort. A shame you made this stand in a room full of my securitrons, otherwise you could’ve gotten somewhere with that sentiment. Have fun dying, courier.”

The screen shut off.

The guards instantly raised their guns and Six panicked.

“1C 4C P56 RM!”

The securitrons seems to briefly blink, the override code shutting down violent protocol- before they immediately went hostile again.

Six was nicked by a shot as they realized there was no peaceful out here. They raised their fist and jumped, letting the weight of the metal carry them and their punch into the screen of the securitron. They could faintly hear ED-E letting out beeps of rage, firing from the air upon the wheels of the other guards. Six did what they did best- let adrenaline overtake them, ignoring all danger and jumping in to attack before anything could phase them.

The surprising part was that it still worked.

They looked upon the robot scraps and hulls with sadness- before a voice from behind hurt them deeper than the lasers had.

“You low-down snake! I wish I’d have left you in the ground to rot!”

Six looked and saw Victor, gun aimed.

“Vic-”

“What in the HELL is wrong with you!? You coulda had everything you wanted!! I trusted you!!”

Six went quiet, seeming to think on the statement. Then, they looked at ED-E, and made a motion for him to stay where he was. Clasps came undone as a ballistic fist was slipped off Six’s hand, and placed on the floor. Then, they asked, “Do you really think he cares about Vegas?”

“Of COURSE he does, why the hell do ya think he wants that dang chip, Six!?”

They held their hands up, then, slowly, they started to walk towards Victor.

“Because he’s obsessed with power, Victor. You’ve been around the Wasteland, you KNOW how bad things are, even here. How House forces control and denies help to people just outside the gates.”

They kept stepping forward.

“Freeside could use just a fraction of the power we have here and they’d be in such better shape. Just a fraction of the caps, and they could do better trade, get better protection, they could stop NCR from trying to force their way into their homes, help chem addicts go clean, give better housing to all the people on those streets.”

They stopped just in front of his gun, and very slowly, they placed their hands on either side of it- and pressed it to their chest.

“Victor… He’s known power and control for ages- you must know what he’s like in there. Some old, old soul clinging to his past life and forcing it on us now. Do you really think that’s healthy for anyone? Do you think I’m wrong, to believe changing this will be for the better?”

“…god damnit, I don’t KNOW, Six! I- I don’t wanna shoot ya. Please don’t make me do this.”

“The fact you haven’t shot me yet means you don’t have to.” They reached up and pulled their hat off, looking up at him with sympathy. “You can put me right back where you found me, Vic… If you think I’m wrong, you can. But… if any part of you still trusts me, if you can see where I’m coming from… Please, Victor.”

“…why ain’t you attacked me yet..?”

“Because you’re my friend, and I refuse to hurt you.”

Victor chuckled. “You sure are hurtin’ me a lot right now, Six…”

“…I’m sorry.”

“…I know ya are.”

Victor lowered his gun.

“Let’s say I got here too late t'stop ya. Jane and Marilyn too. Let’s just… say we were too late.”

Six watched him roll backwards, roll away.

“You… Y'know, Mr. House made me an’ the girls free spirits. Guess he just figured we’d be like the others, since he made us. Guess he never thought we’d meet someone like you, Six.”

Victor chuckled bitterly.

“My back’s turned, Sunset. Best be on your way before I turn back ‘round.”

Six ran the other way, deeper into the Lucky 38.

When they came back out, Victor was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long time passes. It's a cold Goodsprings night when he sees Six again.

Victor saw something in Six that he didn't understand, from the very first time they talked. Hell, even before then- the very moment Six managed to survive a bullet to the brain. From that first talk, he figured they'd get along swimmingly with Mister House, too. Their immediate love of robots and technology and respect for what they can do, their determination to do what was best for the future. It was like they were a younger, childish House, a prior stage of his creator- but they weren't.

At least, Victor had assumed as much, when he realized that House was dead. That Six had fooled him and his creator and Jane and the whole damn Strip, in a single moment. Victor had thought himself to be wrong, in that moment.

He had nothing to do with himself, with this sudden freedom he had, with no direction from House- and he knew he didn't know what to do with Six. He was- Afraid? Enraged? Dumbfounded? He ran away. Back to Goodsprings, a safe haven, a little peaceful place to save his frying circuits and overloading electric mind.

It took him a few days to realize that he WAS right, about Six and House being similar. House took what he wanted, did what he needed to, for what he believed to be the best. He didn't settle and he wouldn't stop until he'd won. Victor had always been right. He just hadn't seen how House's own ideology would be the death of him.

Victor saw SOMETHING, in Six, something reliable. He saw someone he could trust. He HAD trusted them. Despite everything, some traitorous part of him still DID trust them. He just didn't understand it.

Then, suddenly, after silence, Six was there in Goodsprings, in the dead of night. They were on the hill they got shot at, they were sitting in silence, and they were alone.  
He could have killed them, but he wouldn't. He would just ask them for answers.

A head hung low under the rim of a brown hat, hiding a face even further in the night's shadow. In their hands, a half empty sarsaparilla bottle was lazily turned back and forth, and they looked as though in sorrow or in peace.

Victor asked which one it was, and suddenly Six was awake again.

"Victor..!?" They sounded desperate, voice croaking. On their feet in an instant, their arms were around his middle.

"Howdy there, Sunset. You're a long way from Vegas." He hesitated to put a large, robotic hand on their head, like he wished to. He still wanted to be mad at them, but it had been so long now, and they looked so defeated. Tired, hell- exhausted. Clinging to him.

"Got a call. Had to walk a... lonesome road. All alone. Learned things on it... they made me wanna come back here."

"To your grave?"

"Not mine."

It was now that Victor noticed what Six had left in the grave- an unopened Sunset Sarsaparilla. Like a gift, or an offering. Victor went to ask Six what it meant, but suddenly, they slipped, Victor's arms moving to keep them from falling over.

"Oh- sorry, I'm sorry, I'm..."

"Tuckered out."

"Something like that."

Victor sighed. Before protests could be made, Six was scooped up in his arms, as he rolled down the hill. He has a bed in his shack, one he obviously had no use for- at least, until now. Six didn't move to fight him on it. Their face was still hiding, under the rim of a cowboy hat they'd taken off some poor fool in Vegas. They were sleeping before they even hit the bed.

He could have hurt them, could have finally gotten answers, finally chewed them out for everything, all the turmoil he went through. He went outside, instead, up towards the water source. There were geckos there, usually, and he'd need something for them to cook in the morning. They'd be hungry.

Victor waited for sunrise.


End file.
